Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0007-2067-145X
Graduation Year
2026
Date of Submission
4-2026
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
John J. Pitney, Jr.
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
2026 Jacob A Smagula
Abstract
I argue that Bitcoin is the latest expression of the recurring American conflict over who controls the terms of money and property, and that the political coalition formed around Bitcoin shares the same characteristics as earlier coalitions formed around this struggle. I review three historical cases that each produced a coalition opposing the existing monetary order: the Bank War of the 1830s, the Free Silver movement of the 1890s, and the populist backlash against the Federal Reserve during the 1979 Farm Crisis and the 2008 Great Recession. I find that Bitcoin’s architecture, which allows for self-custody, permissionless access, and an algorithmically fixed supply, is an answer to the old conflict. Four qualities are found across each of the historical coalitions: relative economic insecurity, distrust of institutional management, ordinary Americans confronting the wealthy and powerful, and heterogeneous political affiliations. Using data from the Nakamoto Project's 2025 Bitcoin Adoption and Sentiment Study, I find each of the four qualities present in the contemporary Bitcoin coalition. I conclude that the Bitcoin coalition today resembles the pre-Bryan silver coalition of the 1880s rather than the consolidated movement of 1896, and its outcome may depend in part on whether it produces a unifying political champion.
Recommended Citation
Smagula, Jacob, "Bitcoin and the American Conflict Over Money and Property" (2026). CMC Senior Theses. 4194.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4194
